(Image: Flickr: IITA Image Library)

Three recent newspaper reports have investigated nonprofit hospitals and the charity care they provide in their communities (as well as their high executive salaries).

Des Moines Register: Hospitals avoid taxes despite little free care

Scores of Iowa hospitals are exempt from most taxes because they’re classified as charities, but some spend less than 1 percent of their money on free care for the poor, a Des Moines Register analysis shows.

At issue are tens of millions of dollars in taxes on property and income that hospitals are excused from paying because of their charity status.

Database: Hospital charity care in Iowa

Contra Costa Times:  Public hospitals carry burden of charity care despite big tax breaks for nonprofits

The East Bay’s nonprofit hospitals receive millions of dollars in tax breaks each year to care for the poor and uninsured, yet they provide only a fraction of local charity care, a Bay Area News Group analysis reveals.

The responsibility of caring for the indigent falls largely on the region’s public hospitals, which struggle under the weight.

And this sidebar:  Despite health care cutbacks, many nonprofit hospital executives reap million-dollar salaries, perks

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Nonprofit hospitals’ huge tax breaks under increasing scrutiny

An excerpt:

Charity care has caused more tension as nonprofit hospitals that provide Medicaid services for the poor argue they are not fully reimbursed for Medicaid. So how can they be expected to increase their levels of free or discounted care? But neither are private hospitals fully reimbursed for Medicaid — and they often provide additional charity care, as well.

“There’s no difference between for-profit and nonprofit when it comes to charity care,” said Ray Alvey, chief financial officer of the for-profit St. Louis University Hospital, who previously worked for two of BJC Healthcare’s hospitals. “The only difference is their tax status.”

A hospital’s culture — not its tax status — dictates the amount of charity care it provides, he said. Some institutions, such as SLU Hospital, have a strong history of charity care. But others don’t.